World News

ECB’s Knot says coronavirus to hit economy harder than SARS

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – The coronavirus outbreak is likely to have a bigger effect on the world economy than the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) some 20 years ago, European Central Bank governing council member Klaas Knot said on Thursday.

“Although it is still too early to accurately measure the impact of this pandemic, it is safe to say that the hit to the global economy will be more severe”, Knot said at a speech in Amsterdam.

“SARS sent ripples across the global economy, wiping $40 billion off world equity markets. But since the SARS outbreak, China has grown from the world’s sixth largest economy, to the second biggest.”

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Alex Richardson)

tagreuters.com2020binary_LYNXNPEG1Q0WW-BASEIMAGE